I'Aci^  ..?>  i:a 


0.  E.  S.  UBR*R»-  SOP-  2. 


H3 


CONNECTICUT 


AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION. 


NEW  HAVEN.    CONN. 


BXJLLETIN"     122,      l^J^^^,     1S96. 


COST    OF    NITROGEN,    PHOSPHORIC    ACID    AND 

POTASH    IN   CONNECTICUT.      SPRING 

MONTHS   OF    1896. 


VALUATIONS. 


CONTENTS. 
Cost  of  Nitrogen,  Phosphoric  Acid  and  Potasli, 

Nitrate  of  Soda, 

Sulphate  of  Ammonia, 

Cotton  Seed  Meal, 

Linseed  Meal, 

Castor  Pomace, 

Dry  Fish,        .  .  .  . 

Dissolved  Bone  Black, 

Acid  Phosphate, 

Muriate  of  Potash, 

High  Grade  Sulphate  of  Potash, 

Double  Sulphate  of  Potash  and  Magnesia, 

Cotton  Hull  Ashes,    - 

Tobacco  Stems, 

Wood  Ashes, 

Summary,        .  .  -  - 

Proper  use  of  Tables  of  Analyses  of  Fertilizers. 

Summary,        -  -  - 


9 
16 


Bulletins. 

The  Bulletins  of  this  Station  are  mailed  free  to  citizens  of  Con- 
necticut and  to  others  who  apply  for  them,  until  the  editions  are 
exhausted. 

Applications  should  be  renewed  annually  before  January  Ist. 

The  matter  of  all  the  Bulletins  of  this  Station,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
new  and  of  permanent  value,  is  made  a  part  of  the  Annual 
Reports. 

H^^All  Bulletins  earlier  than  No.  71  and  also  Nos.  83,  93,  100 
and  118,  are  exhausted  and  cannot  be  supplied. 

Station  Reports. 

The  Annual  Reports  of  this  Station,  printed  at  State  expense, 
are  by  law  limited  to  editions  of  12,000  copies,  of  which  5,000 
copies  are  bound  with  the  Annual  Reports  of  the  Connecticut 
State  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  distributed  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Board,  T.  S.  Gold. 

After  exchanging  with  other  Experiment  Stations  and  Agricul- 
tural Journals,  the  reports  remaining  at  the  disposal  of  the  Sta- 
tion will  be  sent  to  citizens  of  Connecticut  who  shall  seasonably 
apply  for  them,  and  to  others  as  long  as  the  supply  lasts. 

d^^The  Station  has  no  supply  of  its  Annual  Reports  for  the 
years  1877,  1878,  1879,  1880,  1881,  1883,  1887,  1891,  and  1893, 
but  some  of  them  may  be  obtained  from  Secretary  T.  S.  Gold,  of 
West  Cornwall,  Conn.,  at  the  cost  of  postage.  ^ 


FERTILIZERS. 


RETAIL    CASH    COST    OF    NITROGEN,    PHOSPHORIC 
ACID  AND  POTASH  IN  CONNECTICIJT.* 


Spring  Months  of  1896. 
NITROGEN. 


Nitrate  of  Soda. 

The  per  cent,  of  nitrogen  in  the  eleven  samples  recently  ana- 
lyzed ranged  from  15.53  to  16.21  and  averaged  15.92.  The  ton 
price  of  nitrate  ranged  from  |40  to  848. 

The  cost  per  pound  of  nitrogen  ranged  from  12.7  to  15.0  and 
averaged  14.2  cents. 

Several  farmers  who  bought  "  mixed  car  lots  "  of  fertilizers,  for 
cash,  got  nitrogen  in  form  of  nitrate  at  jsrices  ranging  from  11.8 
to  13.8  cents  per  pound  delivered,  and  averaged  12.6  cents. 

Sulphate  of  Ammonia. 

But  two  samples  of  this  material  have  been  examined. 

They  contained  20.84  and  20.92  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  cost 
$70.00  and  $65.00  respectively,  so  that  nitrogen  cost  15.5  cents 
and  16.8  cents  per  pound  in  the  two  samples. 

Cotton  Seed  Meal. 

Forty-seven  analyses  of  this  material  have  been  made,  of  which 
forty-two  represented  yellow  hulled  meal. 

The  cash  retail  cost  per  ton  ranged  from  $20.50  to  624.00  per 
ton.  The  per  cent,  of  nitrogen  ranged  from  6.28  to  8.12  and 
averaged  6.97  per  cent. 

Phosphoric  acid  and  potash  were  not  separately  determined  in 
these  samples,  because  the  percentages  of  these  two  ingredients, 
in  yellow  hulled  meal,  vary  but  little  from  the  average,  which  is 
2.81  percent,  of  phosj^horic  acid  and  1.85  per  cent,  of  potash. 

Allowing  4^  cents  and  5  cents  per  pound  respectively  for  the 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash,  the  cost  per  pound  of  nitrogen  in 

*  All  the  analyses  of  fertilizers  referred  to  in  this  Bulletin  Have  been  made  by- 
Messrs.  "Winton,  Ogden  and  Mitchell,  chemists  of  this  Station. 


4  CONN.    AGRICULTURAL   STATION,    BULL.    122. 

prime  meal  has  averaged  12. Y  cents,  ranging  from  11.2  to  15.5 
cents.* 

Four  sami>les  of  dark  unhulled  meal,  analyzed  for  farmers,  con- 
tained on  the  average  4.03  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  2.06  of  phos- 
phoric acid  and  1.59  of  potash.  At  $17.00  per  ton  nitrogen  cost 
16.8  cents  per  pound,  at  $15.00,  it  cost  14.3  cents  : — in  any  case 
very  considerably  more  than  in  prime  yellow  meal. 

For  use  as  a  fertilizer  it  will  not  pay  the  farmer  to  use  dark 
unhulled  meal  at  any  price  at  which  it  is  now  offered. 

One  sample  analyzed  was  said  to  be  from  a  lot  which  was 
being  shown  to  farmers  in  East  Hartford  and  vicinity  as  repre- 
senting goods  for  future  delivery  and  offered  at  a  little  less  than 
the  regular  price  for  prime  yellow  meal. 

The  hulls  in  it  were  very  fine  ground  so  that  it  had  the  general 
appearance  of  hulled  meal  a  little  off  color. 

Timely  warning  was  given  by  the  Station  in  the  agricultural 
papers  and  we  cannot  find  that  any  such  meal  was  finally 
delivered. 

LiNSEBD  Meal. 

There  is  now  offered  for  use  as  a  fertilizer  screened  linseed 
meal  which  is  very  fine  and  dry. 

Six  samples  recently  examined  contained  nitrogen  ranging 
from  6.28  to  6.93  and  averaging  6.54,  with  1.79  per  cent,  of  phos- 
phoric acid  and  1.22  per  cent,  of  potash. 

The  average  cost  per  ton  has  been  $20.00  and  the  average  cost 
per  pound  of  nitrogen  12.9  cents,  ranging  from  12.3  to  13.7  cents. 

Castoe  Pomace. 

Three  samples  of  this  material  have  been  analyzed  this  year. 
The  cost  ranged  from  $18.00  to  |20.50  per  ton,  the  per  cent,  of 

*To  make  clear  the  method  of  calculation  this  ezample  will  suffice.  A  given 
sample  of  meal  contains  '?.12  per  cent,  (or  pounds  per  hundred)  of  nitrogen,  2. SI 
of  phosphoric  acid  and  L85  of  potash.  In  one  ton  therefore  are  20  times  these 
amounts,  or  142.4  pounds  of  nitrogen,  56.2  of  phosphoric  acid  and  31  pounds  of 
potash. 

56.2  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid  at  4-|-  cents  per  pound  cost  $2.53  and  37  pounds 
of  potash  at  5  cents  cost  $1.85,  or  $4.38  for  the  two  ingredients.  The  meal  costs 
$22.15  per  ton.  Subtracting  $4.38,  leaves  $18.37  which  is  reckoned  as  the  cost 
of  the  other  ingredient, — nitrogen, — of  which  there  are  142.4  pounds.  Diriding 
the  cost,  $18.37,  by  the  number  of  pounds,  142.4,  gives  the  cost  of  one  pound  of 
nitrogen  which  is  12.9  cents. 


FEETILIZERS.  5 

nitrogen  from  4.74  to  4.92  and  the  cost  of  nitrogen  per   pound 
from  15.5  to  18.2  cents,  averaging  17  cents  per  pound. 

Nitrogen  costs  more  in  Castor  Pomace  than  in  any  other 
organic  form. 

Dry  Fish. 

Four  samples  of  Fish  have  been  examined. 

Two  of  them  contained  nitrates,  added  probably  to  bring  the 
per  cent,  of  nitrogen  up  to  the  guarantee. 

These  four  samples  contained  from  7.56  to  9.42  per  cent,  of 
nitrogen  with  from  6.58  to   7.22  per  cent,   of  phosphoric  acid. 

Oil  of  vitriol  is  often  added  to  the  fish  to  hinder  putrefaction 
during  drying,  and  this  treatment  partly  dissolves  the  bones  of 
the  fish,  forming  superphosphate. 

Allowing  5j,  5,  and  2  cents  per  pound  respectively  for  soluble, 
reverted  and  insoluble  phosphoric  acid,  the  actual  cost  of  nitrogen 
per  pound  in  fish  has  averaged  14.5  cents,  ranging  from  11.4  to 
1 6.6  cents.     The  price  of  fish  per  ton  ranged  from  §26.00  to  $32,00. 


PHOSPHORIC    ACID. 

Dissolved  Bone  Black. 

The  average  composition  of  four  samples  analyzed  has  been, 
soluble  phosphoric  acid  15.4,  reverted  1.95,  insoluble  .28,  and  the 
average  cost  of  "  available,"  that  is  soluble  and  reverted  phos- 
phoric acid  together,  has  been  6.6  cents  per  pound,  ranging  from 
5.9  to  7.4  cents. 

Acid  Phosphate. 

This  name  is  applied  to  the  material  got  by  treating  any  min- 
eral phosphate  (Charleston   phosphate,   etc.)  with  oil  of  vitriol. 

The  three  samples  examined  had  an  average  composition  of 
12.3  per  cent,  soluble  phosphoric  acid,  2.1  reverted  and  .85  per 
cent,  insoluble. 

The  "available"  phosphoric  acid  has  cost  on  the  average  4.8 
cents  per  pound. 

In  "mixed  car  lots,"  delivered,  purchasers  have  bought  the 
available  phosphoric  acid  of  dissolved  bone  black  for  from  6.2  to 
6.8  cents  per  pound,  of  acid  phosphate  for  from  3.6  to  3.8  cents. 


6  CONN.    AGKICULTURAL   STATION,   BULL.    122. 

POTASH. 
Muriate  of  Potash. 
The  per  cent,  of  potash  in  twelve  samples  ranged  from  47.50  to 
54.13,  averaging  50.61. 

Cash  retail  prices  ranged  from  142.50  to  $45.00  and  the  aver- 
age cost  per  pound  of  actual  potash  was  4.16  cents. 

Purchasers  of  mixed  car  lots  of  chemicals  delivered,  paid  from 
4.04  to  4.17  cents  per  pound  for  actual  potash,  averaging  4.1  cents. 

High  Grade  Sulphate  of  Potash. 

This  material  is  quite  constant  in  composition  and  on  the  aver- 
age (5  analyses)  contained  49.2  per  cent,  of  actual  potash.  The 
potash  has  cost  at  retail  in  this  form  4.9  to  5.2  cents  per  pound. 

Purchasers  of  mixed  car  lots  have  bought  it,  delivered,  at  4.8 
and  4.9  cents  per  pound. 

Double  Sulphate  op  Potash  akd  Magnesia. 

The  average  per  cent,  of  potash  in  the  six  samples  analyzed 
was  26.5 — ranging  from  25.30  to  28.01 — and  the  average  cost  per 
pound  of  actual  potash  was  5.6  cents. 

A  single  purchase  in  a  "  mixed  car  lot  "  is  reported  at  a  price 
which  made  the  cost  of  actual  potash  4.04  cents,  delivered. 

Cotton  Hull  Ashes. 

Twenty-nine  analyses,  recently  made,  showed  the  usual  wide  dif- 
ferences of  composition,  potash  soluble  in  2oaZer,. ranging  from  15.40 
to  30.64,  and  phosphoric  acid  from  5.96  to  11.68. 

The  average  per  cents,  of  these  two  ingredients  have  been  re- 
spectively 23.1  and  9.7. 

Allowing,  5^,  5  and  2  cents  per  pound  for  the  water-soluble, 
citrate-soluble  and  insoluble  phosphoric  acid  respectively,  potash 
soluble  in  water  has  cost  from  3.8  cents  to  10.9  cents  per  pound 
and  on  the  average  6.6  cents. 

This  potash  is  in  the  form  of  carbonates  and  phosphates  and  is 
particularly  prized  by  the  tobacco  growers,  though  it  is  equally 
well  suited  for  other  crops. 

Ground  Tobacco  Stems. 
This  is  a  finely  ground  powder  having  the  composition  shown 
in  the  following  analyses  of  two  samples. 


FEETILIZERS.  7 

Sample  Sample 

A.  B. 

Nitrogen 2.58  3.13 

Phosphoric  acid 70  .86 

Potash 7.06  9.63 

If  we  value  nitrogen  at  13  cents  per  pound  and  phosphoric 
acid  at  5  cents,  the  actual  cost  of  potash  in  these  two  samples  is 
5.7  and  8.8  cents  respectively.  The  samples  contained  only  traces 
of  chlorine.     The  stems  cost  $20.00  per  ton. 

Wood  Ashes. 

These  are  usually  regarded  as  a  potash  fertilizer  but  should 
rather  be  regarded  as  a  source  of  lime,  in  form  of  carbonate — for 
which  they  are  chiefly  valuable,  supplying  it  in  finely  divided 
form  and  cheaply,  considering  its  fineness. 

The  seventeen  samples  received  this  season  have  contained 
from  2.04  to  6.66  per  cent,  of  potash  soluble  in  water  and  from 
1.32  to  2.10  per  cent,  of  phosphoric  acid.  Excluding  two  samples 
which  were  evidently  partially  leached,  the  ashes  have  contained 
on  the  average : 

Potash  sohible  in  water 5.07 

Phosphoric  acid 1.56 

Lime 25.90 

Sand  and  Soil... 14.50 

Charcoal 2.00 

Allowing  5  cents  a  pound  each  for  phosphoric  acid  and  potash, 
the  cost  of  lime,  ($11.00  per  ton  for  ashes),  is  little  more  than  f 
of  a  cent  per  pound,  which  is  cheaper  than  lime  can  be  bought  in 
the  same  form  elsewhere. 

SUMMARY. 

In  conclusion,  to  summarize  the  preceding  facts,  there  is  shown 
in  the  following  table  the  average  retail  cash  prices  of  nitrogen, 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash  in  the  raw  materials  and  chemicals 
named  above. 


8  CONN,   AGRICULTURAL   STATION,   BULL.    122. 

Cash  Retail    Cost   Per  Pound  op    Nitrogen,    PnospnoRrc 
Acid  and  Potash  in  Connecticut, 

(spring-  months,  1896.) 

Cents  Per  Pound. 

Nitrogen.  ^^^~^~^^ 

Nitrate  of  Soda 14.2  12.T  to  15.0 

Sulphate  of  Ammonia 16,2  15.5  "  16.8 

Prime  hulled  Cotton  Seed  Meal..  12.7  11.2  "  15.5 

Unhulled  Cotton  Seed  Meal 15,5  14.3  "  16.8 

Linseed  Meal 12.9  12.3  "  IS.T 

Castor  Pomace... 17.0  16.5  "  18.2 

Dry  Fish 14.5  11.4  "  16.6 

Available  Phosphoric  Acid. 

Dissolved  Bone  Black 6.6  5.9  to    '7.4 

Acid  Phosphate 4.8  4.2    "    6.6 

m 

Potash  Soluble  in  Water. 

Muriate  of  Potash. 4.16  3.9  to    4.3 

High  Grade  Sulphate 5,10  4.9    "    5.2 

Low  Grade  Sulphate 5.60  4.9    "    6.3 

Cotton  Hull  Ashes 6.6  3.8    "10.9 

Ground  Tobacco  Stems 7.3  5.7    "    8.8 

Bone  and  tankage  are  not  included  in  the  foregoing  discussion 
because  both  contain  nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid  in  hard  gran- 
ules, not  easily  soluble  in  water,  and  their  value  as  fertilizers 
depends  largely  on  the  size  of  these  granules. 

Therefore  to  determine  the  cost  of  nitrogen  or  phosphoric  acid 
in  them  would  involve  an  estimation  of  the  value  of  each  ingredi- 
ent in  bone  granules  of  different  sizes. 

This  would  lead  us  too  far  from  the  special  object  of  this 
Bulletin. 


FERTILIZEES. 


THE    PROPER    USE    OF    TABLES   OF    ANALYSES    OF 
FERTILIZERS  AND  FERTILIZER  CHEMICALS. 

By  E.  H.  Jenkins. 

On  page  162  of  the  Report  for  1895  is  a  paper  by  the  Director 
of  this  Station,  on  The  Best  Economy  of  Concentrated  Fertil- 
izers. 

The  paper  is  designed  to  illustrate  the  facts  that  "  the  interests 
of  those  who  buy  as  well  as  of  those  who  sell  commercial  fertil- 
izers can  be  best  promoted  by  a  knowledge,  well  applied,  of  all 
the  factors  of  crop-production  ;  that  the  plant,  like  the  man,  to 
flourish,  not  only  requires  an  abundant  and  varied  bill  of  fare,  but 
also  a  suitable  lodging  and  the  comforts  of  a  well-appointed 
home ;  that  the  best  economy  of  commercial  fertilizers  is  to  be 
attained  by  intelligently  investigating  what  special  wants  of  the 
soil  or  crop  their  various  grades  are  adapted  to  meet,  and  what 
further  wants  of  soil  or  crop  must  be  attended  to  in  order  to 
prevent  that  impoverishment  of  land  and  landholder  which  other- 
wise, sooner  or  later,  is  likely  to  ensue — the  experience  of  which 
has  led  many  agriculturalists  to  the  erroneous  conclusion  that 
concentrated  fertilizers  are  '  stimulants  and  not  nourishment,'  and 
that  they  '  exhaust  the  soil,'  whereas  they  merely  aid  the  farmer 
to  exhaust  the  soil  by  rapidly  removing,  in  the  crops,  substances 
which  the  soil  unaided  can  supply  but  slowly  or  insufficiently 
and  by  impairing  or  destroying  one  or  several  of  those  condi- 
ions  which  are  indispensable  to  plant-production." 

This  knowledge  the  farmer  can  get,  partly  from  books,  but 
partly  only  by  careful  and  constant  observation  and  experiment 
on  his  own  land. 

He  must  know,  for  instance,  whether  the  water  supply  and 
drainage  and  texture  of  his  soil  are  such  that  fertilizers  can 
come  to  effect  on  his  crops  ;  whether  his  soil  is  specially  deficient 
in  some  one  ingredient,  as  lime  or  potash ;  and  what  elements  of 
plant  food  his  several  crops  take  off"  from  his  soil,  and  how  much 
of  them  he  can  put  back  in  crop  residues  and  in  stable  manure. 

Only  when  he  knows  these  things  can  he  make  rational  use  of 
the  analyses  of  commercial  fertilizers  and  fertilizer  chemicals, 
which  are  yearly  published  by  this  Station. 

For  it  is  clear  that  if  his  soil  is  cold  and  sour  because  of  defici- 
ent drainage,  or  is  parched  with  drought  in  summer,  money  spent 
in  any  kind  of  fei'tilizers  is  likely  to  be  thrown  away. 

If  his  land  is  specially  deficient  in  nitrogen   or  in  potash,  his 


10  CONN.    AGEICULTURAL   STATION,    BULL.    122. 

first  effort  must  be  to  supply  these  things  by  heavy  dressings  of 
nitrogenous  manures  or  potash  fertilizers,  and  until  this  is  done, 
it  will  be  of  little  use  to  apply  phosphoric  acid. 

The  question  i-egarding  commercial  fertilizers  to  be  settled 
with  the  help  of  this  knowledge  of  his  land  and  cropping  is : 

For  the  given  crop,  how  many  pounds  per  acre  of  nitrogen,  of 
phosphoric  acid  and  of  potash  is  it  wise  for  me  to  apply  ? 

It  is  in  order  to  supply  these  three  ingredients  that  he  uses 
commercial  fertilizers.  If  these  are  not  lacking  in  the  soil,  it  is 
idle  to  use  commercial  fertilizers  at  all. 

We  will  suppose  that  he  has  decided  to  use  per  acre  65  pounds 
of  nitrogen, — 20  of  it  in  form  of  nitrate, — 50  of  phosj^horic  acid 
and  90  of  potash. 

He  is  now  ready  to  avail  himself  of  the  facts  which  it  is  the 
business  of  this  Station  to  supply,  and  which  will  be  found,  in 
pai't,  in  the  pages  of  this  Bulletin. 

In  studying  the  tables  of  analyses  given  in  Station  Bulletins 
and  Reports,  his  first  question  will  not  be — which  brand  of  fact- 
ory-mixed goods  shows  the  highest  Station  valuation  or  the  least 
difference  between  cost  and  valuation,  but  rather  how  can  I  get 
this  65  pounds  of  nitrogen,  50  of  phosphoric  acid  and  90  of  pot- 
ash in  the  most  available  forms  and  at  the  cheapest  price  ?  To 
find  this  out  he  does  not  need  to  depend  on  Station  "  Valua- 
tions "  for  help. 

He  can  himself  msike  valuations  more  accnvaiefo)'  his  sjyecial 
use,  than  the  Station  can  make. 

There  are  two  reasons  for  this.  The  Station  Valuations  are  a 
general  approximation,  not  for  any  particular  place,  but  for 
freight  centers  throughout  the  State,  The  farmer's  valuation  will 
be  quite  accurate  for  his  particular  town  or  village. 

Again,  the  Station  Valuations  are  based  on  average  quotations 
for  six  months  or  a  year.  The  farmer's  valuation  will  be  true  for 
the  week  in  which  he  makes  his  purchase. 

The  Station's  office  is  to  show  him  what  different  articles  con- 
tain, what  their  agricultural  value  under  test  conditions  is,  to 
protect  him  from  frauds  in  fertilizers  and  to  give  him  what  gen- 
eral information  it  can  on  the  subject  of  fertilization. 

It  is  his  duty,  not  the  Station's,  to  see  what  his  fertilizers  will 
cost  him  and  in  what  particular  way  he  can  buy  cheapest. 

Now  the  purchaser  can  buy  this  65  pounds  of  nitrogen,  50  of 
phosphoric  acid  and  90  of  potash  in  one  of  two  ways ;  either 
mixed,  finely  ground  and  ready  to  apply  at   once  in  commercial 


FERTILIZEES.  11 

"  Phosphates,"  "^Superphosphates  "  and  "  Special  Manures,"  or  he 
can  buy  them  separately  in  form  of  agricultural  chemicals,  etc., 
then  pulverize,  if  necessary,  and  mix  them,  or  apply  them  to  the 
land  separately. 

In  any  case,  the  next  thing  is  to  find  out  the  actual  cost  to  him 
of  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash,  when  bought  for  cash, 
each  by  itself. 

This  the  Station  does  in  order  to  fix  a  schedule  of  valuations 
and  a  similar  thing  any  business  man  would  do  before  purchas- 
ing stock  of  any  kind. 

The  system  of  valuations  is  correct  in  principle,  and  there  is 
not  a  fertilizer  manufacturer  in  the  country  who  is  not  forced  to 
resort  to  it  in  buying  his  raw  materials. 

The  system  is  continually  misrepresented  as  being  an  attempt 
to  indicate  what  the  fair  price  of  a  fertilizer  is.  It  is  nothing  of 
the  sort ;  but  shows  what  the  amounts  of  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid 
and  potash  contained  in  a  fertilizer  would  cost  on  the  average, 
for  cash,  at  freight  centers  in  raw  materials  unmixed. 

This  information  has  been  of  great  value  as  a  general  guide  to 
buyers. 

After  twenty  years'  experience  under  this  system  it  is,  how- 
ever, believed  that  the  progressive  farmers  of  this  State  are  per- 
fectly capable  of  making  valuations  to  suit  their  own  particular 
cases,  which  will  be  more  accurate  for  their  own  conditions  of 
market  than  any  which  the  Station  can  make. 

In  what  follows  it  is  shown  how  a  valuation  or  schedule  of 
valuations  may  be  made,  accurate  for  the  time  and  place  where 
made  and  how  it  may  be  used  by  the  practical  farmer. 

Nitrogen. 

It  has  been  shown  in  the  first  part  of  this  Bulletin  that  the 
materials  in  which  organic  nitrogen  is  the  leading  ingredient  and 
which  are  in  the  Connecticut  retail  market  now  are  dry  fish, 
cotton  seed  meal,  linseed  meal  and  castor  pomace. 

(Dried  blood  is  not  generally  oflTered  at  retail,  the  "tankage" 
in  market — known  as  "  bone  tankage  "  in  the  trade — is  more  a 
phosphatic  than  a  nitrogenous  fertilizer.) 

No  better  forms  of  organic  nitrogen  than  the  vegetable  matters 
named  above  are  to  be  found. 

The  experiments  made  at  this  Station  during  the  last  two  years, 
as  well  as  the  experiments  of  Wagner  in  Germany  previously 
made,  indicate  that  the  nitrogen  of  dried  blood,  of  cotton  seed, 


12  CONN.    AGRICULTURAL   STATION,    BULL,    122. 

linseed  and  castor  pomace  is  about  equally  available  ;  and  more 
available  than  that  of  fish,  bone,  or  tankage. 

Therefore  the  choice  miist  be  determined  chiefly  by  the  cost  of 
nitrogen  with  due  regard  also  to  mechanical  condition. 

Linseed — specially  screened  for  fertilizer  use — and  cotton  seed 
are  of  about  equal  fineness  ;  the  linseed  drills  rather  easier  because 
free  from  lint.     Castor  Pomace  is  somewhat  coarser. 

Referring  to  the  tables  on  page  8  it  appears  that  the  cost  of 
nitrogen  per  pound  in  these  various  articles  has  been  this  spring 
as  follows : — 

Average.  Extremes. 

In  Cotton  Seed  Meal 12.7  11.2-15.5 

Linseed  Meal 12.9  12.3-13.1 

Castor  Pomace 17.0  15.5-18.2 

Dry  Fish 14.5  11.4-16.6 

It  is  evident  that  organic  nitrogen  costs  (Spring  of  1896)  about 

13  cents  per  pound,  and  that  it  may  cost  as  low  as  11.2  or  as  high 
as  18.2  cents,  depending  on  the  purchaser's  distance  from  large 
markets,  his  care  in  buying  and  the  use  he  makes  of  the  Station 
in  testing  the  quality  of  the  material  ofiered  him. 

That  is,  he  may  save  7  cents  per  pound  or  for  his  65  pounds  of 
nitrogen  $4,55  by  care  in  buying  the  one  item  of  nitrogen. 

He  may  reckon  on  getting  the  following  quantities  of  nitrogen, 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash  in  every  100  pounds  of  cotton  seed 
meal,  linseed  meal,  or  castor  pomace  that  he  buys. 

Phosphoric 
Nitrogen.  Acid.  Potash. 

In  Cotton  Seed  Meal 6.9  2.8  1.8 

Linseed  Meal 6.6  1.8  1.2 

Castor  Pomace  -- - 4.8  3.0  1.0 

But  if  buying  considerable  quantities  it  will  in  any  case  be 
wise  for  the  purchaser  to  send  samples  for  analysis  to  the  Station 
and  in  all  cases  to  buy  with  a  distinct  guarantee. 

We  will  assume  that  he  finds  he  can  buy  cotton  seed  meal  at 
$22,00  per  ton  containing  6,9  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  2,81  per  cent, 
of  phosphoric  acid  and  1.85  per  cent,  of  potash,  in  which  there- 
fore nitrogen  costs  him  12.8  cents  per  pound  ;  and  that  he  chooses 
this  form  of  organic  nitrogen. 

The  nitrogen  of  nitrates  can  only  be  bought  economically  in 
nitrate  of  soda,  at  a  cost  of  from  12.7  to  15.0  cents  per  pound, 
as  appears  from  the  figures  given  on  page  8. 

We  will  also  assume  that  he  can  buy  nitrate  of  soda,  contain- 
ing 16  per  cent,  of  nitrogen,  for  845.00  per  ton. 


FERTILIZERS.  13 

Phosphobic  Acid. 

The  two  available  forms  in  which  this  is  found  in  market,  prac- 
tically free  from  other  fertilizer  ingredients,  are  "  acid  phos- 
phate,"— rock  phosphate  dissolved  by  oil  of  vitriol — and  dissolved 
bone  black. 

There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  the  soluble  or  "  reverted  " 
phosphoric  acid  in  one  of  these  is  any  more  easily  available  to 
plants  than  in  the  other. 

The  acid  phosphate  is  the  form  used  by  most  manufacturers  of 
fertilizers,  on  account  of  its  greater  cheapness.  It  has  a  tendency, 
however,  to  cake  or  set,  especially  when  mixed  with  nitrate  or 
potash  salts,  unless  some  dry  material,  like  cotton  seed  or  linseed 
meals,  bone  dust,  or  the  like  is  added.  Dissolved  bone  black, 
however,  never  sets  in  this  way. 

Available  (water-soluble  and  citrate  soluble)  phosphoric  acid 
can  be  bought  in  the  latter  form  for  6.6  cents  per  pound. 

In  acid  j)hosphate  it  costs  considerably  less,  but  for  some  reason 
acid  phosphate  is  not  commonly  sold  by  retail  dealei's  in  Connec- 
ticut. 

It  is,  however,  extensively  used  by  farmers  in  other  States  with 
excellent  results  and  can  be  readily  bought  in  the  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  market  at  low  prices. 

In  car  lots  it  has  been  laid  down  at  freight  centers  for  810.60 
per  ton  or  less,  this  spring,  and  if  there  were  demand  for  it,  could 
probably  be  retailed  for  $15  or  less  per  ton,  thus  making 
the  cost  of  available  phosphoric  acid  about  44-  to  5c.  per  pound. 

We  assume  for  the  purposes  of  our  illustration  that  the  pur- 
chaser finds  he  can  buy  acid  phosphate  for  616.00  per  ton  con- 
taining 14  per  cent,  of  available  phosphoric  acid. 

Potash. 
Leaving  out  of  account  ashes,  the  chief  sources  of  potash  for 
agricultural  use    are  the   imported    potash  salts,    muriate,  high 
grade  sulphate  and  double  sulphate.     As  the  table  shows, 

Averages.  Extremes. 

Potash  in  Muriate  costs,  cents  per  pound 4.16        3.9—4.3 

"        "  high  grade  Sulphate 5.10  4.9-5.2 

"  "  low     "  "  5.60         4.9-6.3 

Returning  now  to  the  assumed  case  in  which  the  farmer  wishes 
to  get  20  lbs.  nitrate  nitrogen,  45  lbs.  organic  nitrogen,  50  lbs. 
available  phosphoric  acid,  90  lbs.  potash : — 

From  the  data  given  in  this  bulletin  and  the  quotations  given 
by  dealers,  he  can  calculate  very  accurately  what  they  will  cost 
laid  down  at  his  freight  station,  as  follows  : — 


14  CONN.    AGRICULTUEAL    STATION,    BULL.    122. 

We  assume  that  he  can  buy  nitrate  of  soda  for  $45  per  ton, , 
or  $2.25  per  100  lbs.;  cotton  seed  meal  for  122.00,  or  $1.10  per 
100  lbs.;  acid  phosphate  for  $16.00,  or  80  cents  per   100  lbs; 
and  muriate  of  potash  for  $42.50  per  ton,  or  $2.13  per  100  lbs. 

To  get  20  lbs.  of  nitrate  nitrogen  he  needs  125  lbs.  of  nitrate 
of  soda,  costing  $2.82. 

Forty-five  lbs.  organic  nitrogen  require  652  lbs.  cotton  seed 
meal,  costing  17.1  V.  This  quantity  of  meal  also  carries  about 
2.8  per  cent,  or  18  lbs.  of  phosphoric  acid  and  1.8  per  cent,  or 
11  lbs.  of  potash. 

To  get  the  remaining  32  lbs.  of  phosphoric  acid  will 
require,  say  230  lbs.  of  acid  phosphate,  costing  $1.84,  and  the 
remaining  79  lbs.  of  potash  will  require  158  lbs.  of  muriate,  cost- 
ing $3.36. 

1 25  pounds  Nitrate  of  Soda,  costing $2.82 

652      "         Cotton  Seed  Meal     " 7.17 

230      "         Acid  Phosphate        "     1.84 

158      "         Muriate  of  Potash    "     _ 3.37 

1165      "         costing $15.20 

This  represents  a  cost  per  ton  of  unmixed  chemicals  of  $26.10, 
with  the  following  composition  : 

Nitrogen  as  Nitrates 1.71  per  cent. 

"  Organic 4.00      " 

Phosphoric  Acid  available 4.30      " 

Potash  as  Muriate 7.72      " 

The  figures  which  represent  the  actual  costs  of  nitrogen,  phos- 
phoric acid  and  potash  in  these  unmixed  chemicals  are  the 
"Schedule  of  trade  values,"  which  the  careful  purchaser  will 
apply  to  the  ready-mixed  goods  that  are  offered  to  him,  viz.  : 

Nitrogen  as  Nitrates 14  cents. 

"  Organic 12.8     " 

Available  Phosphoric  Acid  .  _ 5.8     " 

Potash  as  Muriate 4.2     " 

To  illustrate :  one  of  the  high  grade  factory-mixed  fertilizers 
recently  analyzed  contains  : 

Nitrogen  as  Nitrates -.- 2.91  per  cent. 

"  Organic 2.17         " 

Available  Phosphoric  Acid 7.6  " 

Potash  as  Muriate 6.8  " 

and  costs  $38  per  ton. 


FERTILIZERS.  15 

This  contains  somewhat  less  nitrogen  and  potash  and  a  good 
deal  more  phosphoric  acid  than  the  particular  formula  of  chemi- 
cals above  given;  and  on  the  whole  contains  per  ton  more  cash 
value  of  fertilizer  ingredients  by  about  $1.15.  Deducting  this 
from  $38.00,  the  cash  price,  we  have  $'36.25. 

This  $36.25  is  then  the  price  at  which  the  farmer  could  buy- 
approximately  the  same  amount  of  chemicals  as  his  formula  con- 
tains, finely  ground,  thoroughly  mixed,  bagged  and  ready  to  put 
on  his  land. 

The  difference  between  this  and  the  cost,  826.10,  of  the  chemi- 
cals unground  and  unmixed,  namely,  810.15,  is  the  price  he  must 
pay  for  having  the  work  of  grinding  and  mixing  done  for  him. 

This  brings  him  to  the  last  question  of  all — which  is  the  cheap- 
est, to  do  it  myself  or  have  it  done  for  me  ? 

If  he  is  using  only  small  quantities  of  fertilizer,  half  a  ton  or 
less,  or  if  he  does  not  attend  to  it  till  the  pressure  of  spring 
work  is  upon  him,  unquestionably  the  latter  course  is  cheapest ; 
if  the  chemicals  are,  as  is  often  the  case,  fine  and  dry,  or  can  be 
bought  milled  fine,  for  only  a  slight  advance,  and  the  amount 
used  is  large,  it  will  often  pay  well  to  do  the  mixing  at  home. 
No  general  rule  can  be  given,  each  farmer  must  figure  and  experi- 
ment for  himself,  undisturbed  by  the  dictum  of  those  who  have 
had  no  experience  in  the  work. 

In  what  has  been  said  we  have  taken  for  illustration  quickly 
available  but  also  the  cheapest  forms  of  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid 
and  potash  which  are  on  the  market. 

These  are  not  always  the  most  economical  to  use. 

For  instance,  the  use  of  muriate  of  potash  on  tobacco  is  fatal 
to  the  crop,  and  the  quality  of  potatoes  may  be  injured  by  it,  so 
that  the  higher  priced  sulphate  is  used  instead. 

Again,  some  soils  which  are  deficient  in  lime,  as  well  as  potash, 
are  more  economically  dressed  with  both,  in  form  of  wood  ashes, 
than  by  separate  applications  of  stone  or  oyster  shell  lime  and  a 
potash  salt. 

It  is  very  likely  that  cotton  hull  ashes,  by  reason  of  the  alkali 
in  them,  pay  better  to  use  on  some  soils  than  either  the  muriate 
or  sulphate  of  potash,  although  the  actual  potash  in  them  costs 
considerably  more. 

Where  land  is  laid  down  to  grass,  fine  bone  is  preferred  by 
many  to  the  more  soluble  and  quickly  available  forms  of  nitrogen 
and  phosphoric  acid. 

There  is  often  great  advantage,  too,  in  changing  the  form  of 


16  CONN.   AGEICULTURAL   STATION,    BULL.    122. 

fertilizer  from  time  to  time,  rather  than  in  dressing  the  land  year 
after  year  in  the  same  way.  Such  a  change  prevents  an  undue 
accumulation  in  the  soil  of  any  one  ingredient  not  assimilated  by 
the  crop  in  considerable  quantity.  For  instance,  the  use  of  super- 
phosphate year  after  year,  for  a  long  time,  may  cause  an  accumu- 
lation of  sulphates  which,  by  reducing  the  amount  of  carbonate 
of  lime  within  the  soil,  or  in  other  ways,  may  be  injurious. 

All  these  points  demand  the  careful  attention  of  the  farmer 
and  are  matters  which  each  individual  must  attend  to  for  himself. 

To  recapitulate : — 

1.  Before  buying  fertilizers  in  any  quantity,  the  farmer  should 
decide — from  what  he  can  find  out  about  his  land  and  the  past 
and  prospective  cropping, — how  many  pounds  of  nitrogen,  phos- 
phoric acid  and  potash  he  will  use  per  acre,  and  whether  any 
particular  forms  of  these  ingredients  are  specially  desirable. 

This  decision,  involving,  as  it  does,  some  thought  and  study, 
though  it  may  not  accurately  meet  the  needs  of  land  and  crop, 
will  make  clear  to  him  the  uses  and  the  limitations  of  fertilizers. 

It  is  what  no  one  can  do  for  him,  and  it  is  certainly  a  great 
advance  over  the  plan  of  putting  on  half  a  ton  or  a  ton  of  "  fer- 
tilizer "  or  "  superphosphate "  per  acre,  regardless  of  anything 
but  the  cost  per  ton.  This  last  jjlan,  followed  by  many,  is  like 
prescribing  half  a  pint  of  "  medicine  "  per  day  for  a  patient,  with- 
out naming  either  dose  or  drug. 

2.  The  farmer  should  then  get  from  a  number  of  sources  quo- 
tations of  such  fertilizer  chemicals  as  will  serve  his  purpose  with 
definite  guarantees  of  composition  and  clear  understanding  as  to 
rebates  in  case  the  goods  are  not  as  guaranteed,  and  in  the  ways 
indicated  in  the  preceding  pages,  calculate  what  he  must  pay  for 
the  quantities  of  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash  that  he 
has  decided  upon,  delivered  at  his  freight  station. 

3.  The  purchaser  should  then  find  out  what  he  must  pay  in 
cash  for  an  amount  of  factory-mixed  fertilizer  that  contains 
approximately  the  quantities  of  fertilizer  ingredients  which  he 
has  determined  to  apply  per  acre.  This  cost  of  the  factory-mixed 
goods  will  almost  always  be  considerably  larger  than  the  cost  of 
unmixed  chemicals. 

4.  This  difference  in  cost  between  the  two  is  to  be  offset  against 
the  cost  to  him  of  possible  pulverizing,  mixing  and  bagging  the 
chemicals,  and  he  has  lastly  to  determine  which  will  probably  be 
the  cheaper  method,  all  things  considered. 

This  he  cannot  determine  until  he  has  followed  the  course  just 
indicated. 


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